A new ModWash car wash is proposed to be developed on Delsea Drive (Rt 47) in Deptford, in the area of Bowlero Bowling and the Cooper Street Walmart.
The developers of the project had already presented before the Deptford Zoning Board last fall and they were granted a variance approval to permit the car wash use on the property.
On Tuesday July 9th 6pm they will return to the Zoning Board asking for full preliminary and final major site plan approval, as well as a minor subdivision approval for the car wash.
ModWash is now a well known car wash brand in South Jersey having opened several area locations in just a short amount of time. They feature a modern automatic car wash system where you stay inside your car as you move through the tunnel. At the end there are significant vacuum systems for customer use.
A few of the ModWash locations are in Washington Township, Gloucester Township and Winslow Township.
I had originally written about prospects for a ModWash car wash in that Walmart area in 2022, based on early information provided to me. At the time ModWash was even showing Deptford on their website as a future location.
I stopped in at the Deptford Zoning office last week and looked at the plans (although I don’t have a copy) and it appears that this proposal moving towards approval is a little further away from the traffic light intersection than what I saw previously, likely due to parking needs for the bowling alley.
The position was closer to the bend in the property’s interior “Deptwood Center Road”.
For the proposed Deptford location, effectively the town has already granted an OK that the car wash is acceptable on the property and now it’s just a matter of getting a site plan approval on the final details of what that development is.
Deptwood Center – Delsea Road Frontage
Interestingly, despite having considerable traffic moving through that interior Deptford Center Road to access Walmart, those prime Delsea Drive frontage properties have not gained attention from other retailers since Walmart opened 15 years ago.
Originally the larger extended property was developed as the Deptwood Center, which was anchored by an Ames Department store and a supermarket.
Ames closed in 1993 and despite several years of state offices operating in the old center, the center never really thrived again.
The original center was demolished ahead of the development of a Walmart, which opened in 2009.
While a portion of the road front parcels near the traffic signal are allocated to the bowling alley for parking, a considerable portion of the property along Delsea Drive is just unused old parking lot. That parking lot area likely goes back decades to when Ames was still operating in Deptford.
Interestingly, this section of Deptford is actually considered an Opportunity Zone… zones that were created in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which includes capital gains tax incentives for private development initiatives to attract investment and foster startup activity and distressed.
I don’t know the details of what the opportunity zone is but it would seem that there is an opportunity to save money on future development costs in this area…
And yet until now, nothing else has come except for Wal-Mart!
The ModWash Zoning meeting for the site plan is set for July 9th
Links and Location
ModWash Car Wash Deptford (Proposed)
Delsea Drive – Deptfwood Center
Deptford NJ
Zoning Board Hearing
July 9, 2024 at 6:00 p.m. in-person.
Deptford Township Municipal Building
Main Courtroom
1011 Cooper Street
Deptford, New Jersey,